tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63329906497731542612018-05-27T22:18:29.247-04:00Boffins and Cold WarriorsJonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-23923826682635104162018-04-15T15:18:00.004-04:002018-04-15T15:18:52.948-04:00Boffins and Cold Warriors is continuing! Check out the new business page.
Based on the number of requests I've been getting lately from faculty, spouses of faculty, academic groups, museums, and lots of other amazing people, I've decided to put together a website outlining the services I provide.
If you've been looking for history-based consulting or career advising, then get in touch.Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-72777624924026578462014-01-08T13:36:00.000-05:002014-01-08T13:36:26.405-05:00Science AdvocacyLast October I contributed an article to iPolitics on the troubled relationship between science and government, and how the current situation is new, but not that different from previous conflicts between scientists and politicians. John Dupuis amalgamated links to the entire series on his blog, and recently asked everyone who contributed to the series to fill out a biography. I've been studying Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-53170273850505083502013-10-30T14:35:00.000-04:002013-11-04T10:48:11.332-05:00Quick Updates on a ThursdayIt has been a busy week with lots of good news, some of which is impossible to convey in 140 character tweets, so
I wrote an article as part of a series on Canada's science policy that Sarah Boon organized and coordinated to have published by iPolitics.
The Friction Between Politics and Pure Science
There are no comments, not even from trolls, on iPolitics, but quite a few people are thinking Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-68134801774538445132013-04-11T10:57:00.000-04:002013-04-11T11:02:08.988-04:00#Pearson50On April 9th I attended the wonderful conference hosted by the newly renamed Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History entitled, "The Pearson Government: 50 Years On." This was probably the finest conference I have attended, because of the depth and breadth of insight offered by speakers, commentators, and audience. It was a rare and splendid opportunity, and I'm glad I was able Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-20279176877100457042012-11-01T15:22:00.001-04:002012-11-01T15:23:33.379-04:00Tenure and the Culture of Failure in AcademiaWhy are career paths that aren't tenure track considered failures by so many of us? Why do we use expressions like 'abandon the academic job search' or 'plan b' even when we're trying to explain that non-academic jobs are good outcomes of graduate studies? The easy answer is to blame the conveyor belt model of academia, and the lack of non-academic perspective of most academics. The reality is Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-17146114108660453922012-10-04T06:38:00.001-04:002013-04-03T14:38:42.262-04:00Nuclear Train and Operation HurricaneYesterday, 3 October 2012, was the 60th anniversary of Operation Hurricane, which was the first British test of an atomic bomb. Today, 4 October, is the 55th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. We're also less than two weeks away from the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
It is, in other words, a good time to remember how lucky we are to be here.
It's also a good time for Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-91335851206302353432012-09-25T12:16:00.000-04:002012-09-26T07:20:14.491-04:00The Misery and Joy of Doing Recent HistoryI am an historian of recent events. Well, relatively recent events. Some of the people who participated in the events I study are still alive. In the past day I've been reminded of the statement that real historians don't study anything that has happened in the past X years (where X is a real number between 1 and 100 that is arbitrarily chosen by the speaker of the admonition). I still don't Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-74425233113209579012012-09-13T12:32:00.000-04:002012-09-21T16:04:40.361-04:00Microform Was Ahead Of Its Time (I still hate it)In the midst of all the career-hunting I've been doing (networking, career counselling, job-searching and job applications), I've been making time to tweak my thesis and turn it into a book manuscript. Fortunately, I chose to write my dissertation as something more book-like than other people seem to think is possible, so I have relatively few things to do before I can submit to a publisher. One Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-60702111429075636342012-07-26T10:02:00.000-04:002012-10-31T16:11:54.152-04:00Making Some Changes Around HereIt has been far too long since my last update, but big things are happening, so I thought I'd post a bit of an update.
First, for those who haven't noticed, I've made some changes to Boffins and Cold Warriors this week. I added a Twitter panel, and you should all follow me there, because that's what I update the most frequently (I cross-post to Google+ and Facebook as well). I also created some Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-39400202387162905442011-11-23T14:31:00.002-05:002011-11-23T14:36:59.669-05:00Canadian Science and Technology Association Conference 2011Yes, that's right. Two blogs in one day. It's also true that I went to two conferences in a row in Ottawa. One of my co-panellists attended both, and we're of the opinion that we deserve some sort of award for enduring 5 consecutive days of conferencing, including giving presentations.
Here's my thoughts about the 2011 Canadian Science and Technology Historical Association's meeting.
I won'tJonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-60494543811988774342011-11-23T10:47:00.001-05:002011-11-23T11:03:53.584-05:00Canadian Science Policy Conference 2011Last week, in fact, one week ago today, I attended CSPC 2011 (Canadian Science Policy Conference). Before I forget everything that happened, I figure that I should write a short review of the conference - both its networking opportunities and the content.
First, earlier in the week I'd had reservations about going. I had a talk to prepare, revisions to make on an article and of course Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-19590927006632639832011-10-21T14:17:00.000-04:002011-10-21T14:17:41.569-04:00Class Size, Funding and Sessional Instructors: Universities in TransitionToday's Globe and Mail includes an article by Jeffrey Simpson about the problems with universities these days. Simpson rehashes three common complaints about the university experience and then uses selective quotations from Robert Campbell, the president of the well-known research-intensive Mt A, and Harvey Weingarten to claim that universities are finally admitting to the problem.
Simpson's Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-46453767158492303302011-04-26T14:38:00.000-04:002012-07-23T15:40:49.625-04:00Why You Should VoteWhy should you vote?
I'm not here to tell you for whom to vote. I don't care. Vote for someone. Anyone. Just vote.
I'm not going to tell you things you've already heard a thousand times before (people have died, or are dying, all around the world for the right to vote; since you will probably pay taxes or use services at some point in your life, you have a right to decide how much you should Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-54040961131068678562011-03-21T09:51:00.000-04:002012-07-23T15:40:23.866-04:00Teaching Tip #4: Maintaining Sanity While GradingGiven the slow news day on Friday, it might be time for a return of the Teaching Tip.
For those who missed it, a York University Teaching Assistant was caught making disparaging remarks about students on Facebook and then apologized. Various people were sought for comment, or perhaps merely invented, since there is the standard union line (TAs are overworked), the standard entitled undergraduateJonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-4839530693150181782010-12-07T16:15:00.000-05:002012-07-23T15:40:09.829-04:00Dissertation Update #3: DraftedFinished!
Okay, well, finished the first rough draft of the full thesis. I found fourth gear in November that got me through Chapter 4. Then I found fifth gear. I wrote Chapter 5 (55 pages) in nine days, and two of those days were spent wrestling with the outline without really productively typing. I wrote Chapter 6 (15 pages) in two days. Here's the statistics (Page = double-spaced, Times NewJonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-5291656881633603022010-11-27T06:55:00.000-05:002012-07-23T15:39:45.677-04:00Dissertation Update #2: "The Last Good Year"I finished a chapter during the week, finally. I zoomed past my intended page count at least a week before that, but it turns out that I couldn't say everything I needed to say about the International Geophysical Year, Diefenbaker, the Glassco Commission, Pearson, the 1964 White Paper on Defence, the Mackenzie Report, the Science Secretariat, the Science Council, Integration/Unification, the Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-12960955733953102742010-10-05T16:44:00.000-04:002012-07-23T15:39:01.738-04:00Where there's smoke, there's fireEvery so often I meet with my supervisor to discuss my progress (or lack thereof) and then we brainstorm ways to get this dissertation done sooner than later. At the end of the summer we met. His suggestion was to take a week off to refresh the batteries and then get back at it. My desire was to rediscover my love of writing and continue working on the dissertation. The compromise was a temporaryJonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-87530651032553266802010-10-04T16:14:00.001-04:002012-07-23T15:38:46.560-04:00Bubble Chamber: What control should the state have over its science?My contribution to The Bubble Chamber this month is this week's debatable:
What control should the state have over its science?
I end with these questions, to which I would love to see responses in the comments section at The Bubble Chamber (or here), by follow-up blog posts or by email:
Is the original Munro/Dallimore episode (and the ensuing months long wait for Access to Information) Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-78404496519542261722010-09-27T16:28:00.000-04:002010-09-27T16:28:21.707-04:00Three QuestionsOnce people learn that I am a graduate student they usually follow up with three questions.
What do you study?
Which comes with a subliminal request, "please keep the answer short and comprehensible; if I'm actually interested and understand your short answer, then I will ask for more details."
When are you going to be done?
What do you think you'll do when you're done?
I've often compared the Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-89306470028811225572010-09-24T17:08:00.001-04:002012-07-23T15:38:17.791-04:00Quick Notes for a Friday #4I've got a lot of links to pass along, so I'll try not to say too much.
Blogerable mentions:
My four most loyal readers have completed my survey, which I'll leave open for a while longer so that the rest of you get a chance to voice your opinions.
Other posts from this week:
Lesson Plan
Black Brant and Alouette
The Bubble Chamber this week:
GMO
Morality
Disneyfication
Links
An Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-84400487664611011322010-09-23T21:30:00.001-04:002012-07-23T15:37:57.972-04:00Dissertation Update #1: Ionosphere and RocketsThe current chapter that I'm working on covers the period from 1956 to 1967. It's the tenure of the second chairman of the Defence Research Board, a man by the name of Hartley Zimmerman (full name Adam Hartley Zimmerman, father of Noranda CEO and Member of the Order of Canada Adam Hartley Zimmerman).
So far in this chapter I've covered the election of John Diefenbaker and the Progressive Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-59502955139617571002010-09-22T20:01:00.000-04:002010-09-22T20:01:41.007-04:00Survey: Advertising on Academic Blogs
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-48465851622697458242010-09-21T15:46:00.001-04:002012-07-23T15:37:23.818-04:00Teaching Tip #3: How to Structure Your Weekly Discussion SectionBefore I get to any further examples of lesson plans, I'm going to pass along a tip about structuring a class that I probably should have made the second Teaching Tip. I like to structure my sessions the same each week, so that there is a comfortable routine for everyone. I have four main components that I find work for me.
Attendance and announcements [1-3 minutes]
Questions generated by the Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-55325118049138610512010-09-20T16:36:00.001-04:002012-07-23T15:34:03.682-04:00Quick Notes for a Friday #3The fact that Quick Notes was delayed from Friday to Monday means that I have even more links to pass along.
The theme of the day is education.
A MetaFilter posting on a McKinsey report about the success of education systems that hire from the top third. There are two problems that come to mind. First, just being in the top third does not mean that someone can teach (or run a business). SecondJonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332990649773154261.post-33895873677497258432010-09-14T15:32:00.000-04:002012-07-23T15:33:50.951-04:00Some thoughts from inside the Toronto Blog CollectiveLast week Will Thomas of Ether Wave Propaganda identified the Toronto Blog Collective and included The Bubble Chamber, Jai, Aaron and me. The attention is, of course, flattering if not slightly unnerving, and the advice is timely, if not ominous.
I wanted to point out that there is in fact a lot more to the Toronto Blog Collective than the four blogs mentioned, but Isaac already beat me to it. Jonathan Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12415175598660731706noreply@blogger.com0